News Analysis India

Tag: AIMIM

  • 2022 UP polls: After Rajbhar and Akhilesh seal pact, Owaisi facing tricky situation

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The much talked about alliance between the OP Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for the electoral battle due early next year may indicate a re-alignment of political forces in Uttar Pradesh, but has put a big question mark on the future of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha (BSM), a conglomerate of 10 very small regional and caste-based groups.

    Significantly, the alliance also leaves Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in the lurch. The AIMIM was among the first political outfits to join the BSM showing faith in the leadership of OP Rajbhar.

    In fact, the BSM was formed and nurtured with the idea of carving a base among the most and extremely backward castes (MBCs and EBCs) to establish their identity away from dominant backward castes and ensure their representation in power politics.

    After the alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the political credibility of Rajbhar is again under the scanner as after assembling 10 smaller parties under the BSM umbrella, he changed course suddenly and shook hands with the SP leaving other members of the BSM including the AIMIM to fend for themselves.

    Rajbhar has the image of not being a stable political leader. He was once with the BSP but left to protest Mayawati’s functioning. He floated the SBSP before the 2017 polls and made common cause with the BJP on an ideological plank. The BJP-SBSP partnership enabled Rajbhar to expand his clout in east UP, beyond Varanasi and Gorakhpur in 2017. In 2012, Rajbhar’s party had contested around 50 seats, winning none, but in 2017, he along with the BJP fought nine seats, winning four of them.

    ALSO READ: 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls: Om Prakash Rajbhar’s SBSP seals alliance with Samajwadi Party

    However, the alliance with the BJP fell apart during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Rajbhar accused the Yogi Adityanath government of not implementing the recommendations of the social justice committee set up to review the re-classification of UP’s backward castes to ensure equal benefits of reservationand level playing field to the MBCs and EBCs.

    After the SBSP-SP alliance, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will face the challenge of striking a balance among the dominant Yadavs, MBCs and EBCs as he is believed to have promised Rajbhar that the social justice committee’s recommendations would be implemented. Moreover, the seat-sharing between the two allies would not be an easy task as Akhilesh will have to satisfy two major blocks: the SBSP and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

    On the other hand, for Rajbhar, the going would not be that easy as he would have to bid adieu to Owasi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and other BSM parties. Owaisi has been spinning the wheel of the anti-Samajawadi Party discourse in UP. He is trying to project the SP as a force which has always used Muslims as a vote bank and then forgot about them.

    “In fact, Owaisi has been looking to make the kind of breakthrough he achieved in the Bihar Assembly polls where his party won five seats for the first time. Owaisi had hoped to capitalise on the minority “discomfort” with the SP as Muslims believe that Akhilesh has failed to come out in favour of jailed Azam Khan forcefully,” says Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist. He adds that Owaisi has been looking at the UP elections as an opportunity to widen the AIMIM’s footprint in UP.

    In Uttar Pradesh, it was almost always the SP barring 2007 when Muslims voted for the BSP and the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when they rooted for the Congress. In the 2017 Assembly election, the AIMIM on its own fought on 38 seats, won nothing and secured a vote share of 0.24 per cent.

    It is a Catch 22 situation for Owaisi as he will have to swallow his pride and co-exist with the SBSP-SP coalition or fight solo and be back at square one. Immediately after stitching an alliance with the SP, the SBSP has started denying Owaisi’s presence in the BSM saying that his party was not a part of it. “He broke our trust the day his party’s UP chief Shaukat Ali announced that the AIMIM will contest 100 seats,” said SBSP national spokesman Piyush Mishra.

    As per highly placed sources, the AIMIM’s Owaisi and Jan Adhikar Party chief Babu Singh Kushwaha may part ways with the BSM after the SBSP-SP alliance. On the other hand, even Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar, in talks with the BSM, has not said anything about his joining the Morcha categorically.

    Even an alliance with the SP does not suit the politics of the Bhim Army which claims to be the voice mainly of Scheduled Castes which have been allegedly tormented by the dominant Yadavs.

  • AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi asks Centre to stop India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match

    By Express News Service

    HYDERABAD: AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi has criticised the Narendra Modi government for allowing the Indian cricket team to play Pakistan in the T20 World Cup when nine Indian soldiers and several civilians had been killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. The match is scheduled for October 24.

    Wondering why Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Intelligence Bureau couldn’t prevent the killings, he criticised the Centre for failing to counter terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. Owaisi also questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the Chinese aggression and on sky-rocketing prices of petrol and diesel. 

    Responding to the issue of Muslim girls being attacked when found with males from other religions in recent times, he questioned what right anyone had to do so. 

    “If a Muslim wearing a burkha is found with a Muslim man there is no problem. But if a Muslim girl is found with a man from other religion it becomes an issue. Are we living in 1969 or 2021,” he wondered, opining that nobody had the right to prevent people from falling in love.

  • UP assembly polls: Owaisi factor worry parties banking on Muslim vote bank

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, which is going to contest next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core “vote bank”.

    Different castes, including Jatavs, Yadavs, Rajbhars and Nishads, which constitute a relatively small part of the population of Uttar Pradesh, more or less have their own leadership, but Muslims, who account for more than 19 per cent of the people in the state, do not see any united leadership.

    So the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Owaisi, wants to end the “slavery” of Muslims in the hands of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress, which had been using them as their “vote bank”, according to the leaders of the party.

    There are 82 Assembly segments in the state where Muslim voters are in a position to make or mar the political fortunes of the candidates.

    Buoyed by winning five seats in last year’s Bihar polls from the Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region, which gave jitters to the RJD and the Congress, Owaisi has already announced that his party will field candidates in 100 of the 403 seats in the Uttar Pradesh election expected to be held early next year.

    The Hyderabad MP launched his poll campaign from Ayodhya earlier this month and since then, has been addressing public meetings at different places.

    AIMIM national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar told PTI on Sunday that the main goal of the party is to create a political narative and leadership among Muslims for the progress of the community and a better future.”Even the so-called secular parties, which were getting the votes of the Muslims, never allowed a Muslim leadership to emerge.

    The report of the Sachar Committee has made out the condition in which the parties have pushed them to,” he said.

    The opinions of experts differ on whether Muslims, after the rise of Hindutva politics, have become aware enough to create their own acceptable leadership.

    The SP and the BSP have accused Owaisi of serving the interest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by trying to divide Muslim votes and dismissed any possibility of the AIMIM having any impact in the country’s political heartland.

    Senior SP leader Abu Azmi discarded Owaisi as a “vote-katwa” (splitter of votes) who is acting on behalf of the BJP to damage the poll prospects of the Samajwadi Party.

    State media coordinator of the Congress Lallan Kumar said Owaisi remembers Muslims only at the time of elections and claimed that the minority community has traditionally supported the grand old party.

    However, political analyst Parvez Ahmed believes that this time, the “Owaisi factor” will definitely have an impact in Uttar Pradesh.

    “The reason for this is that after the rise of hardline Hindutva politics in the country, a large section of Muslims has started to understand the importance of their separate leadership.

    The SP, the BSP and other parties that claim to be Muslim-friendly have been silent on the issues of Muslims.

    “The idea is now gaining strength among Muslims that if it they do not have a leadership of their own, the atrocities against them will only increase,” he said.

    At this juncture, Owaisi is not the target of the BJP but of those parties that have so far been trying to get the votes of Muslims on the basis of their fear of the saffron party, Ahmed said.

    He said another section of the Muslims also thinks what harm has the BJP done to them.

    “The Muzaffarnagar riots, which left a mark of fear on the minds of Muslims, took place not during the BJP’s rule but during the SP regime.

    During the regime of (Chief Minister) Yogi Adityanath, there was no such riot in which Muslims were specifically targeted.

    The share of Muslims in government jobs in the state is less than two per cent, while the Congress and other non-BJP parties ruled the state for the longest time,” Ahmed pointed out.

    According to Census 2011 data, Muslims account for 19.26 per cent of the population in Uttar Pradesh.

    Muslims constitute 50.57 per cent of the population in Rampur, 47.12 per cent in Moradabad, 43.04 per cent in Bijnor, 41.95 per cent in Saharanpur, 41.3 per cent in Muzaffarnagar, 40.

    78 per cent in Amroha and above 30 per cent in Balrampur, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Meerut, Bahraich, Gonda and Shravasti.

    According to political analyst Rasheed Kidwai, the issue of giving leadership to Muslims has come up more or less in every election in Uttar Pradesh but never took off and the Muslims often voted for the SP and the BSP.

    Owaisi’s party will contest the Uttar Pradesh polls as part of the “Bhagadari Morcha” formed by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar.

  • Unease over AIMIM’s move to contest Uttar Pradesh polls on issue of giving leadership to Muslims

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The decision of Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) to contest the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the main issue of giving leadership to Muslims has created an unease among parties which consider them as their core vote bank.

    Different castes, including Jatavs, Yadavs, Rajbhars and Nishads, which constitute a relatively small part of Uttar Pradesh’s population, have more or less their own leadership, but Muslims, which constitute more than 19 per cent of the population, do not see any such leadership.

    There are 82 assembly seats in the state where Muslim voters are in a position to make or botch political fortunes, but they have nothing in the name of political participation.

    Whether it is the Samajwadi Party, which gets the most votes of Muslims, or the BSP, which talks about Dalit-Muslim unity for social justice, no one has given leadership to Muslims.

    Owaisi is making this the basis of his election campaign in the state.

    AIMIM national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar told PTI on Sunday that the main goal of his party is to create a political thought and leadership among Muslims for the progress of their community and a better future.

    “Even the so-called secular parties, which were getting the votes of Muslims, never allowed a Muslim leadership to emerge,” he said.

    He said that now when Owaisi is talking about giving leadership to Muslims, there has been “an uproar among the parties which consider this community as their political slave”.

    Opinion of experts differ on the question on whether Muslims, after the rise of Hindutva politics, have become aware enough to create their own acceptable leadership.

    Political analyst Parvez Ahmed believes this time the ‘Owaisi factor’ will definitely have an impact on the assembly elections.

    “The reason for this is that after the rise of hardline Hindutva politics in the country, a large section of Muslims has started to understand the importance of their separate leadership.

    SP, BSP and parties which claim to be Muslim friendly have kept silence on the issues of Muslims,” he said.

    The idea is now gaining strength in the Muslim community that if it does not have any leadership of its own, then the alleged atrocities against them will only increase, he added.

    He said this time Owaisi is not on the target of BJP but those parties which till now have been trying to get Muslim votes by creating fear of the BJP among voters.

    “These parties are doing such propaganda that Owaisi is trying to benefit the BJP by cutting Muslim votes in the state,” he said.

    Ahmed said that a section of Muslims are pondering over what harm the BJP has done to them.

    “The Muzaffarnagar riots, which left a mark of fear on the minds of Muslims, took place not during the BJP regime but during the SP rule.

    During the regime of Yogi Adityanath, there was no such riot in which Muslims were specifically targeted.

    The share of Muslims in government jobs in the state is less than two percent, while the Congress and other non-BJP governments have ruled the state for the longest time,” he said.

    According to Census-2011 data, the share of Muslims in the population of the state is 19.

    26 percent.

    Muslims can play a decisive role in the 82 assembly constituencies out of the 403 in the state.

    Muslims constitute 50.

    57 percent of the population in Rampur.

    Apart from this they are 47.

    12 per cent in Moradabad, 43.

    04 per cent in Bijnor, 41.

    95 per cent in Saharanpur, 41.

    30 per cent in Muzaffarnagar, 40.

    78 per cent in Amroha and above 30 per cent in Balrampur, Azamgarh, Bareilly, Meerut, Bahraich, Gonda and Shravasti.

    Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai believes that the issue of giving leadership to Muslims has come to the fore in more or less every assembly election in the state, but it never took off and Muslims often vote for the SP or BSP.

    “Different sections of Muslims and their own aspirations have also been an obstacle in the way of giving them a universal leadership.

    This time in the assembly elections, there is not much awareness among Muslim voters about preparing their leadership,” he said.

    He said that Owaisi is trying on the model of the last assembly elections in Bihar and Maharashtra.

    “He got success in Bihar because he had got some good candidates who had their own mass base.

    But in Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi does not seem to get much success as most of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have been voting outright for the same party which is capable of defeating the BJP,” he said.

    However, Kidwai believes that in recent times, a kind of political extremism is coming in the country, which is currently not possible to stop.

    “In such a situation, there is definitely a desire for a leadership among the Muslims, but the point of departure has not yet come that they should recognise any one party as a universal leadership,” he said.

    The AIMIM has decided to contest 100 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.

    Owaisi’s party is part of the Bhagadari Morcha formed by Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) President Om Prakash Rajbhar.

    Through this, he is hoping that the new formula of backward classes and Muslim voters will prove to be effective.

    It remains to be seen how this exercise turns out.

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  • AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi left Bhadohi in a huff after commotion by party workers

    By PTI

    BHADOHI: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who has been visiting various places in Uttar Pradesh to get a foothold in the poll-bound state, on Saturday left Bhadohi following a commotion by his party workers in which he got pushed around.

    Imran Ahmed, an office-bearer of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s UP unit said, “As we moved ahead along with Owaisi, somebody pushed us. This angered Owaisi. He went inside the car and left.”

    He added that if anybody within the party did this due to factionalism, he would be shown the door because the name of the party consists of the word ‘Ittehad’ which means unity.

    Nafees Ahmed, another office-bearer, said this is very sad for the party and some party men are responsible for it.

    He added that the party office bearers did not take any help from the police and district administration.

    “If the help from police had been sought, such an incident would not have happened,” he added.

    Nafees also said some party workers became over-enthusiastic, and they could not be controlled.

  • 2022 UP polls: Rajbhar tapping smaller players to expand Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’s reach

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Estranged Yogi government minister and president of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) Om Prakash Rajbhar is making all-out efforts to rope in more partners, smaller though,  to his Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha in order to make it a force to reckon in the 2022 assembly elections in UP.

    However, despite having an image of a tough bargainer, Rajbhar has emerged as an ‘untouchable’ among the big political players in UP.

    After stitching an alliance with All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, Rajbhar met Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad recently and invited him to join the outfit to expand its reach in the western UP as well.

    “The Bhim Army chief has given his consent to join the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha,” claimed Rajbhar. Azad has formed the Azad Samaj Party in March 2020 to take part in electoral politics.

    Initially, Rajbhar tried to stitch alliances with mainstream parties like Samajwadi Party and even the Congress in order to get acknowledged in the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh ahead of assembly polls but his efforts did not bear fruits since he joined hands with Owaisi.

    ALSO READ | 2022 UP polls: BJP applying its tried and tested strategy of fortifying booths

    Moreover, parties decided to keep Rajbhar at an arm’s length after his meeting with BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh last month.

    That meeting annoyed not only AIMIM chief Owaisi, who intends to contest on 100 seats in UP but also shaken the confidence of the likes of the Samajwadi Party. According to a senior Samajwadi Party leader, it was difficult to ascertain which way would Rajbhar go. “There is no guarantee that the SBSP chief will stand with us after winning election in the alliance. In this scenario, going with a person whose loyalty is questionable will not be a wise decision,” he said.

    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is believed to be completely averse to an alliance with any person who has aligned with AIMIM since he thinks that Owaisi’s party may dent the Muslim vote bank of SP.

    OP Rajbhar’s SBSP had contested Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and had won four seats in the Assembly for the first time in 2017.

    However, having failed to get favourable responses from the main parties, the Morcha is trying to gain strength by approaching other players in the field.

    AIMIM chief Owaisi is also doing his bit and met Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Singh Yadav at his Lucknow residence two days back. The political scientist believe that Shivpal Yadav was finding it difficult to join hands with the Bhagidari Morcah or strike an alliance with any other party as he was still waiting for Samajwadi Party to take a call on an alliance with PSPL and that he does not want to jeopardize any possibility.

    The highly placed sources in PSPL claimed that Shivpal was being pressured by SP patriarch and brother Mulayam Singh Yadav to bury the hatchet with Akhilesh Yadav and join hands before the 2022 assembly elections.

    However, Akhilesh has been non-committal on the formal alliance with PSPL saying that his party would consider leaving a few seats for the winnable PSPL candidates.

  • AIMIM to contest Gujarat Assembly polls in 2022, state unit to finalise seats: Owaisi

    AIMIM state unit will finalise the number of seats to be contested in Gujarat, which has a bipolar politics for years with the Congress and the BJP as main contenders for power.

  • AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi denied nod to meet ex-MP Atiq Ahmad in Gujarat’s Sabarmati jail

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi was on Monday denied permission by authorities here to meet former Uttar Pradesh MP Atiq Ahmad, who is lodged at the Ahmedabad-based Sabarmati Central Jail, in the wake of COVID-19 guidelines and other reasons, a party leader said.

    Owaisi is on a day-long visit to Ahmedabad to meet party workers, office bearers and supporters.

    He had also planned to meet Ahmad, the jailed gangster who recently joined the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

    “The Sabarmati jail authorities denied permission to Owaisi to meet Atiq Ahmad on the ground of COVID-19 protocols and also since he is not Ahmad’s blood relative,” AIMIM Gujarat president Sabir Kabliwala said.

    The AIMIM had sought permission from jail authorities for a meeting between Owaisi and Ahmad in the jail premises, but it was denied at last moment, he said.

    Ahmad, who has several criminal cases lodged against him, was in June 2019 transferred to the high-security Sabarmati Central Jail here from the UP’s Naini jail, where was lodged for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a businessman, on directions of the Supreme Court.

    Owaisi’s party had forayed into Gujarat politics with local body polls earlier this year and plans to field its candidates in state Assembly elections due next year.

    Earlier this month, Ahmad’s wife Shaista Praveen joined the AIMIM at a press conference in Lucknow, while the jailed former MP joined the Owaisi-led party party in absentia.

    Ahmad was previously associated with various political parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Apna Dal (Sonewal faction).

  • AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s poser to Centre on Taliban

    Express News Service

    PATNA: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare the Taliban a ‘terrorist-outfit’ and place it under the UAPA with immediate effect. Addressing a gathering in Patna, Owaisi said, “Who is stopping the Centre from declaring the Taliban a terrorist outfit?  I have been saying since 2013 that emergence of Taliban could become a serious concern in future to India, but it might benefit Pakistan and China,” Owaisi said.

    When asked about his decision to field mafia don-turned-politicians Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahamad as the AIMIM candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Owaisi said: “Why don’t you ask the same question of the BJP whose 37% MLA in UP have criminal cases against them? Why not one talks about Pragya Thakur? Is her image clean?” 

    On Atiq Ahmed, Owaisi said: “He is a citizen of India and unless and until he is proven guilty, he is eligible to fight elections.” He said his party would contest at least 100 seats in UP. Lashing out at the NDA on the issues of CAA and NRC, Owaisi said the government has committed a ‘strategic blunder’ in its attempt to corner the minority people. He also lashed out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, claiming he had failed completely on the development front. “Incompetent government resorts to survive on sloganeering,” Owaisi said in an apparent reference to Yogi’s Abbajan barb.

  • Political parties throw enough hints Uttar Pradesh polls will pivot around Ayodhya

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: With the upcoming assembly polls being Uttar Pradesh’s first since the verdict in the Babri Masjid case, political parties have thrown hints the battle will pivot around the issue and have used Ayodhya as a launch pad of sorts for their campaign.

    The Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict paving the way for the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site has brought the Ayodhya issue back to the centrestage ahead of the crucial polls. Political parties including the BJP, the Samajwadi Party the BSP have been using Ayodhya to launch their campaigns as momentum builds for the 2022 polls.

    New entrants like the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and smaller parties including the Jansatta Loktantrik Dal, led by Kunda MLA (independent) Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, are also using the city to being the campaigns.

    The Ayodhya assembly constituency is currently represented by the BJP’s Ved Prakash Gupta.

    With Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself performing the ‘bhoomi pujan’ on August 5, 2020 for a grand temple, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath frequently visiting the holy town, the saffron party has been trying to keep the issue alive.

    The BJP on September 5 began its ‘Prabudh sammelan’ (meeting of intellectuals) from Ayodhya, with its state chief Swatantra Dev Singh addressing a gathering there.

    The UP BJP president made it a point to remind people how former prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1966 had ordered firing on saints who had gathered around Parliament, while the Samajwadi Party in 1990 ordered firing on the devotees of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. “These bullets were fired on India’s culture and ideology of nationalism. The entire India reposes its faith in Lord Ram,” Singh had said.

    Elaborating on the importance Ayodhya for the BJP, its state spokesperson Manish Shukla told PTI, “After adopting a resolution in 1989 to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the temple town has always been close to us. For us, Lord Rama and Ram temple have been a matter of faith. They will continue to remain important for us. We have never seen it from the electoral point of view.”

    Several BJP leaders are likely to visit Ayodhya. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, hoping to repeat its 2007 success of by harnessing its ‘Dalits-Brahmins’ formula, began its ‘Brahmin Sammelan’ from Ayodhya on July 23.

    The 2022 polls are the first in the state since the Supreme Court on November 9, 2019 ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque.

    The Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992 by ‘karsevaks’, who claimed that an ancient Ram temple stood at the same site. On July 23, Rajya Sabha MP and BSP supremo Mayawati’s close aide Satish Chandra Misra started the party’s campaign to woo Brahmin voters by offering prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya.

    Attacking the BJP, Mishra asked the ruling party to give account of the donations collected by it in the name of the Ram temple in the past three decades.

    Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, whose father Mulayam Singh Yadav is often criticised by his opponents for ordering police firing on the Karsewaks after razing of the 16th century Babri mosque, has been attacking the saffron party for “playing the Ayodhya card in every elections”.

    “We are no less a devout Hindu. Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) in fact has been a disciple of Lord Hanuman since his early days,” Akhilesh Yadav said recently at a TV programme hosted in Lucknow. He has also said he would visit the temple with his family after its opens for public.

    His party too used Ayodhya to launch its campaign with state unit chief Naresh Uttam participating in a function of the party — ‘khet bachaao, rozgaar bachaao’ — on September 3.

    Asked as to how much importance does the party give to Ayodhya, SP spokesperson Juhie Singh said, “It is important for us, and it was a major halt of the yatra undertaken by party’s UP unit chief Naresh Uttam. In 2012, the SP had won Ayodhya Assembly constituency.”

    “When the SP was in power, the biggest package of development was given to Ayodhya, whether it was the 16-kosi parikrama, plantation of trees in accordance with the Ramayan, the setting up of a museum or the beautification of ghats and various pilgrimage sites. The Purvanchal Expressway was realligned was the SP’s regime, so that it covers Ayodhya,” she said.

    AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi began his party’s campaign with a public meeting at Rasulabad in Ayodhya on September 7. The venue was strategically chosen as it is near Dhannipur where a mosque is coming up as per the apex court judgement.

    The Congress, however, did not seem to be endorsing political parties using Ayodhya as a launch venue for the campaigns. “For the Congress, Ayodhya, Mathura, Kashi, Mahadeva and Deva Sharif (in Barabanki district) are the same. The party has already announced plans to take out a 12,000 km-long yatra through villages and towns of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls next year,” UP Congress spokesperson Abbas Haider said.

    The decision to take out the “Congress Pratigya Yatra: Hum Vachan Nibhayenge” was taken at a meeting AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held with the party’s advisory and strategy committee here, the party said in a statement.